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| 'Little John' BlogDoll not to scale |
Virgil Tracy, probably the most complex1 of Jeff Tracy's five sons, is (or will be2) the pilot of Thunderbird 2. TB2 is the huge3 freighter that carries International Rescue's ingenious heavy engineering equipment4 in any one of the six interchangeable pods housed in its underbelly. I mention this because for Father's Day this year James gave me a beautiful Corgi diecast model of Thunderbird 2 (c/w the pod housing Thunderbird 4). And I absolutely love it.
Virgil (who was named after Virgil 'Gus' Grissom - one of Project Mercury's Mercury 7 astronauts) arrived on our (still black & white) screens in 1965 as a fully formed 24 year old and is the second eldest, after Scott - TB1's handler. He was originally voiced by American actor David Holliday who himself was a rather talented individual - his CV comprises stints on Broadway including West Side Story & Don Quixote Man of La Mancha, and, closer to home, on British telly, Coronation Street (he played Tom Schofield, a great nephew of Ena Sharples!). It's not documented if Holliday also tinkled the ivories.
Virgil Tracy - Dangerous Game5
1 A very physical character but also a gifted artist and musician (and as you can see above, a none too shabby lounge pianist).
2 Thunderbirds was set in 2065, 100 years in the future.
3 TB2 is 250 feet long, stands 60 feet high and has a wingspan of 180 feet. It's fucking massive.
4 Including various magnetic grabbers and, every young boy's favourite, the Mole.
5 Played, obviously, by the one and only Barry Gray.
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Virgil (70BC-19BC)
Virgil Grissom (1926-1967)
David Holliday (1937-1999)
Virgil Tracy (2041-)
I always thought John Tracy was the most complex of them. why else do you think they stuck him up in space in Thunderbird 5?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason Gerry Anderson took against John, which was why he appeared more and more infrequently as the show developed.
DeleteGood pub quiz question - his puppet was based on Adam Faith and Charlton Heston!
As a Lady Penelope fan obviously, I couldn't really comment on the Tracy brothers but seeing Virgil here displaying his musical and artistic tendencies, my choice is made!
ReplyDeleteI can see that, C! LP (and Parker, it could be argued) certainly kept things in check whilst the Tracy boys were swanning around on their father's island.
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